A Background Paper the Falashas, Or Ethiopian Jews

The Fa1as-has--A Background Paper The Falashas, or Ethiopian Jews, have lived in Ethiopia for millenia, Judaism being widespread there before the conversion of the. Ethiopian Axum dynasty to Christianity in the fourth century. Estimates of the. current Falasha population are in the 25-30,000 range; and some 320 more live in Israel. Most of the Falashas--also known as Beta Israel—are to be found in the mountainous highlands of Gondar region, north of Lake Tana in Begemdir province, and in the Wollo and Tigre provinces. These areas have been hard hit both by internecine conflict in Ethiopia since the September, 1974 revolution there and as a result of the Ethiopian-Erit#rean struggle. Given existing condition, accurate figures are hard to come by, but a minimum of two-score Falashas are known to have been murdered. (Some counts go much ihgher.) Others have been sold into slavery; still others saw their possessions looted; and an indeterminate number have become refugees either in Ethiopia itself or in neighboring Sudan. Reforms instituted by the central government of Lt. Colonel Mengistu Haile Miriam brought land to some Falashas. It also brought the emnity and attacks of the former Ethiopian nobility and landowners who organi- zed the Ethiopian Democratic Union, which frequently has mounted raids into the Gondar region. The Falashas have been grateful to, and sup- portive of, the Mengistu regime. This has brought down on them the attacks of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party, which claims to be more Marxist and anti-Zionist than the regime. This last suffering of the Falashas worsened their already miserable plight, even by Ethiopian standards. Once a powerful and virtually independent kingdom with a population of some quarter of a million, the Falashas were conquered in the 17th century by the Negus Susenyos. Great numbers were massacred, others enslaved, their lands confiscated, conversion forced upon them and, even, Jewish observance forbidden for a time. Thereafter they lived in poverty and degradation, virtually as indentured labor. The Falashas first contact with the modern world came in the early 19th centurh, through Protestant missionaries who initiated a conversion process that further diminished this community. Withal , the Falashas have strongly maintained their Jewishness and always have considered themselves part of the Jewish people. Strong belief in eventual return to the Holy land was evidenced in various unsuccessful. Messianic move- ments such as an unsuccessful 1862 attempt to reach Jerusalem by foot, in which many died. Outside controversy about their Judaism was re- solved early in 1973, when Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of Israel ruled they were Jews, as descendants of the son of Dan. The Hai'ie Selassie regime always opposed any emigration. Only about 170 Jews managed to reach Israel in various ways prior to the September, 1974 revolution. The Mengistu regime, too, does not permit emigration. It briefly closed the departure of 122 Jews in 1977, but then hardened its position. Just a handful have made their way to Israel since, pOus some thirty-two Falasha refugees from the Sudan. The overwhelming majority, it is know, would depart if they could. \ Various Jewish individuals and organizations have worked in Ethiopia to give Falashas some education and other assistance since the turn of this century. Such efforts were greatly expanded in 1976, when the Ethiopian authorities gave permission to ORT to undertake a general regional program of technical and education assistance, in the Gondar region, where the Falashas are concentrated. Support for this has come from several nations, with the U.S. Aid Program giving three quarter million dollars over two years. U.S. aid assistance now has stopped, but the program continues. - 2 - The major objective, though, is to try and achieve Falasha emigration. Key questions are: Can the Mengistu regime be persuaded to permit such movement? What are the contacts, governmental or other, that can'be helpful in reaching the Mengistu regime? And what are those factors that might positively influence its judgment? January 1980 The Fa1ashas--A Background Paper American Jewish Committee Foreign Affairs Department Introduction Thefate of the Falashas, the Jews of Ethiopia, has been the subject of growing concern, and not a little controversy, in the American Jewish community. Most recent estimates put the number of Fal ashas--al so known as Beta Israel—in the 25-30,000 range; and there are about 320 more in Israel. Long subject to dire poverty and degradation, their number steadily eroded by conversionary missionary efforts since the early 19th century, the Falashas have particularly suffered in recent years, as Ethiopia has been wracked by revolution and engaged in two murderous wars, since September 1974. Estimates of the total of Falashas killed range from two-score to over two hundred; others were sold into slavery; still others saw their possessions looted, and an indeterminate number became refugees. The situation has improved somewhat as the central government headed by Lt. Colonel Mengistu Haile Miriam had gradually spread and re-enforced its control in the past year. The primary objective, in seeking to help Falashas, is to try and achieve their emigration to Israel. The Mengistu regime-- considered favorable to the Falashas in other respects and considered favorably by them--does not permit emigration. There is also an important, and growing, educational and technical program being carried on.in Ethiopia on behalf of Falashas. Controversy has been sharp on whether efforts to help Falashas have been as adequate or appropriate as possible. Despite this, adherents of widely different views—brought together in an NJCRAC committee headed by Dan Shapiro--have been able to agree on several basic points of a program now on behalf of Falashas. The Israel government and the Jewish Agency, long opposed to overt action on the Falasha issue, shifted position last November and presently welcome more active Jewish communal support for pro-Falasha efforts. Also, an inter-ministerial committee was established by the Israel government to coordinate pro-Falasha efforts. The Historical Background Until the 1974 Revolution The presence of Falashas in Ethiopia goes back millenia, whether one accepts Falasha tradition that they originated with notables who came back with Menelik, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, or the theory that they were a local population converted by Jews arriving from southern Arabia. Judaism was widespread before the conversion of the Ethiopian Axum dynasty to Chris- tianity in the fourth century. The Falashas became a powerful and independent kingdom allegedly numbering as much as a quarter of a million, oft engaged in wars with Moslems or the various Ethiopian neguses, and reputed for their bravery. In the 17th century, though, they were conquered by the negus Susenyos, with many massacred and others sold into slavery, conversion forced upon them and Jewish observence forbidden for a time. Their lands were confiscated; and thereafter they lived in poverty and degradation, virtually as indentured labor. - 2 - The first more or less continuous contact of the Falashas with the modern world came in the early 19th century through Prot- estant missionaries, who initiated a conversion process that has continued strongly until the present. Jewish interest was minimal." It was not until 1904 that the Falashas found a cham-. pion in Frenchman Jacques Faitlowitz, who worked on their behalf until his death in 1955. He set up pro-Falasha committees, helped establish a boarding school in Addis Ababa in' the 1920s, and brought a handful to Europe and Israel for modern education, including Yona Bogale, an acknowledged leader and spokesman of Ethiopian Jews who came to plead the Falasha case at the Montreal meeting of the Council of Federations and Welfare Funds this past November. The Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936 and then World War II interrupted pro-Falasha efforts. Renewed after the war, pri- marily by the British Falasha Welfare Association, these met with little real resonance and were quite limited in scope. In 1954 Faitlowitz persuaded the Jewish Agency to bring some Falasha youth to Israel for study, at Kfar Batya. Some of these later returned to Ethiopia to work there, as did others trained in a seminary established in Asmara, Eritrea; and a small network of village schools and a couple of health centers were provided thanks to outside aid, by the early 1970s. The Haile Selassie government made some land available to the Falashas to establish a colony near the Sudan border in 1970, but miserable climactic conditions and raids by neighboring tribes claiming the land as theirs brought this experiment to nought. Despite some valiant individual efforts, therefore, connection with the Falashas has been desultory. Faitlowitz had estimated the Falasha numbers at about 50,000 at the turn of the century. Conversion and losses as young Jews quit the traditional highland Falasha villages for larger towns and cities were sub- stantially to reduce this number even before the dramatic events in Ethiopia of recent years, sorely affecting the northern Ethiopian provinces of Begemdir (Gondar region), Tigre and Wolle where the majority of Falashas are to be found. A census by Jewish organizations working in Ethiopia done in 1976 put their number at 28,189 comprising 6,092 families in 490 widely distributed settlements, with about half being children. The largest concentration is in the Gondar region, north of lake Tana, in the town of Ambober. Falashas traditionally live alongside, but not together with, their non-Jewish neighbors in the highland villages, engaged in farming or crafts, the latter an activity spurned by other Ethiopians. An October 1979 census found 24,557 in the Gondar region, 1,718 in Wollo and 1,554 in Tigre.

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